25 years ago in Europe: The first of many tastes of Germany

When I was nine years old, I’d already learnt German for a couple of years at school, but just in the half-hearted Aussie way which meant I could say my name and count to ten. Still, that was more than I could do in other languages so I was pretty keen to get into Germany. Little did I know that this would be the first of many visits, or that I’d end up married to a German one day.

One of the first spots I remember visiting is the Schwarzwald – Black Forest. Curiously, that’s not far from where I ended up living in Germany. I absolutely knew that the Black Forest existed long before I visited it: after all, everybody knows about Black Forest Cake. Yum! But what surprised me when we got there – I can still remember this – is that it was just an ordinary forest. Somehow I’d decided that it would be literally a black forest, although I can’t imagine what I really thought that would be. I do remember being just a touch disappointed that it was full of trees with the regular brown and green colourings. But don’t let my nine-year-old disappointment put you off – as an adult, I discovered the Black Forest really is beautiful.